Abstract:
Democracy drives social development and enhances political participation. Women in
Nigeria remain underrepresented in all levels of politics, especially the legislature.
Existing studies have focused largely on Women’s Political Representation (WPR) at the
national level, with little consideration given to state’s legislature and its contributions to
women’s issues. This study was, therefore, designed to assess WPR in southwestern
Nigeria from 1999 to 2019, a period that falls after the Beijing Platform for Action in 1995
and the beginning of Nigeria nascent democracy. Factors that influence the selection of
women into legislative Committees, women’s contributions to lawmaking with reference
to women’s issues and constituency services were also examined.
Anne Phillips’ Politics of Presence Theory was adopted as the framework, while
exploratory and case study designs were used. Houses of Assembly (HoAs) in Ekiti
(EKSHA), Lagos (LSHA) and Ogun (OGSHA) states were purposively selected based on
more representation of female lawmakers than others. Purposive sampling technique was
used to select 63 respondents. Key Informant Interviews were conducted with 18
lawmakers (15 females and three males), 21 party leaders and nine gender activists, based
on their positions as constitutional representatives of the people, importance to political
recruitment, and knowledge of women issues, respectively. In-depth Interviews were
conducted with nine legislative support staff and six members of the Executive arm of
government. Legislative and constituency records, as well as newspaper reports and
journal articles, provided the secondary data. Data were thematically analysed.
Only the LSHA had female representatives among the three HoAs as of 1999. The
situation however improved when a female became the Speaker in OGSHA in 2003. The
level of WPR in EKSHA rose from one in 2003 to four in 2011 and 2019. In LSHA, WPR
witnessed a decline from seven in 2011 to three in 2019. In OGSHA, WPR maintained a
steady increase from one in 2003 to four in 2019. However, these numerical increases fell
below the number required as tipping point for women’s effective representation. Female
representatives in the HoAs featured prominently in Committees normatively associated
with women, such as women affairs, poverty alleviation, health, information, education
and finance. Lawmakers’ policy preferences, academic backgrounds, as well as
professional and legislative experience, were identified as factors that influenced selection
of women into the Committees. Out of the 34 female representatives who served in the
HoAs, only four (two in OGSHA, and one each in EKSHA and LSHA) sponsored bills,
though none addressed women-specific issues. Constituency services carried out by
female representatives revealed their policy preferences for health, education, women
empowerment and financial support for widows and the elderly.
Women’s political representation in Houses of Assembly in southwestern Nigeria from
1999 to 2019 was low with minimal impact on women’s issues. Hence, there is the need
for women to contribute more to legislative policymaking.
